Seoul in the City

Chapter 1: Matters of the Heart

As she opens her eyes and stares at the alarm clock slowly the time reads 7:29 am. "Oh no... I'm running late for work" she said loudly. She jumps out of bed and rushes to the bathroom quickly. As she turned the faucet on to take a hot shower she noticed a brown Fossil wristwatch on the counter. Rolling her eyes in disgust she proceeds to get in the tub. Ten minutes later  she steps out of the shower and wipes the fog off the mirror. While brushing her teeth she threw the watch in the trash bin. "Never again. I'm truly done with relationships at this point in my life" she thought.

Cassie Phillips is a 5 foot 7 medium built brown skin woman. As she puts her black v-neck shirt on and denim jeans, she looked at her smartphone and noticed the time is now 7:45 am. Cassie brushes her black hair into a messy bun. "That should do it. Am I forgetting something" she pondered. She glances around the room to see what's missing. "Ahh, my charger. What would I do without you? she confessed. So, Cassie heads out the front door to the parking lot. Unlocking the doors to her silver Jetta she climbs into the driver's seat and turns the key in the ignition, and turns the radio on.

"There is a bit of a delay on the Brooklyn bridge" announced the reporter. "Come on," she thought in frustration. Cassie turns the radio off. "Guess I will explain to them that I got caught in traffic" she says sarcastically. She begins to dial the numbers in her phone but there was no answer. "That's strange. Let me call Kevin to see what the hold up is" she wondered. "Hello... Kevin why aren't they picking up the phones?" she asked. "There was a fire alarm so, everyone is standing outside in the cold" he stated. "Where are you?" he asked. "Stuck in traffic as usual" she replied. "What you expect, it's New York!" he said. "Hurry up, I'll stall for as long as I can" he promised. "I love you Kevin" she says. " Mmhmm" he says hanging up the phone.

30 minutes later Cassie arrives at Fulton Elementary school. Walking through the long hallways, Cassie sees her bestie Kevin Greene teaching her students in the classroom. She opens the door very slowly trying not to interrupt the session. "Hi Miss Phillips" shouted one of the Pre-K children. "Hello everyone" she says smiling. Taking off her blue parka and black cap Kevin proceeds to leave the room. "You owe me big time" he whispered. "I know" she said. "It's cold out there" she says rubbing her hands together. "Your nose is red like Rudolph the reindeer" one of the children pointed out. The class begin to laugh. "Ha Ha" she says. Today class we are going to count numbers and tell time and maybe if you are good, story time with cookies. "Yayyyyyy" all the children screamed. "Okay, okay" she laughed holding her ears from the noise.

Later on that afternoon Cassie heads into the teacher's lounge for her lunch break. She checks the refrigerator and finds nothing but a small apple juice box. "Can this day get any worse" she thought. "Tell me that's not the only thing your going to eat today?" Kevin asked. Cassie shrugged her shoulders. The fair skin man with gray eyes and brown fluffy hair sits besides his best friend. "Sweetie, what's going on with you?" he asked. "Honestly, I really do not know" she lied. "So, this has absolutely nothing to do with that guy. What's his name... I forgot?" said Kevin. "His name is not important. But, it's more than that she explained. I'm just.... uhhhh" she sighs.

"First off you are too young to be having a mid life crisis honey. Secondly, you are smart, pretty, caring, a little uptight but whose perfect" he rambled. "I'm not uptight" she blushed. "Okay and the denial award of the year goes to Miss Cassie Phillips" he said sarcastically. Principal Steven Watkins interrupts their conversation. "Miss Phillips, can I see you in my office please?" he asked. With a shocked look upon her face she walks out the room. "Can I say just one thing. I know these past two weeks I have been a bit inconsistent and I take full responsibility for that no excuses" she confessed. "I'm not firing you Cassie" said the bald headed man.

"Your not" she said baffled. "We at Fulton elementary would like to offer you a full time position here at the school" he said. "Seriously" she said in confusion. "So, what do you say?" he mentioned. "Can I get back to you on that" she said nervously. "Sure. Take your time" he said in a calm manner. Cassie exits the office in a hurry. "Oh my gosh. I can't believe it" she said. As a million thoughts ran through her mind she realized that she had to hurry up back to class before those kids get themselves into trouble.

It's 3pm and class just ended." I'm so happy it's the weekend. I get a few days off to relax and get some real sleep" she smiled. As Cassie was driving back home to Harlem her phone rings. "Hello, hi daddy. How are you?" she asked. "I'm doing okay baby girl. How is everything?" asked Steven. "I'm doing alright. I just got a promotion to be full time" she said. "Congratulations sweetheart. I am so proud of you " he said with excitement. "I haven't taken the job exactly" she said. "Well whatever your decision you make, just know I support you 100 percent of the way" he said. "Thanks Dad. How is mom doing by the way?" she asked.

There was silence on the phone. "Hello... dad are you still there?" she said loudly into the speaker phone. "I'm here... your mother is very sick darling" he said in a worried tone. "Daddy, what's wrong with mom?" she asked anxiously. "She has stage one breast cancer. We are going to beat this disease" he promised his daughter. Suddenly tears began falling from her brown eyes. "Can I speak to her" she asked politely. "She is getting some tests done at the moment. We are at the hospital. I have to go back in the room with your mother" he explained.

"Dad, tell mom how much I love her!" Cassie said. "We wish you could be here. But, I have to go and I will tell Charlene to call you back" he says. "Love you" said Steven as he hung up the phone. Cassie takes a deep breath and continues to drive all the way home. Finally, she reaches her destination. Immediately, she gets on her laptop to see how much a plane ticket would cost to go to Seoul, Korea.

A/N

Hope you enjoy my work. All copies are reserved so NO STEALING!!! Lol

Please send me feedback about what you like or didn't like. I'm keeping the chapters short since I have a short attention span. Ha Ha Ha... This is an ongoing series. So read the first chapter and let me know what you think. I will try my best to upload new chapters every Thursday/Friday! 

Have fun.

~Cupcake